Not necessarily your first choice for surviving the apocalypse, or for using on a once-in-a-lifetime hunt, or defending the family home, or even just cherished as a family heirloom - though it certainly could be any or all of those.

My 1944 Springfield M1 rifle has traveled the world. It has a Beretta bolt and a Danish VAR barrel. It may have done nothing more than pull guard duty or serve on the firing range. But its stock has the dimples you see when an 8 round clip is pushed into the wood to make sure the rounds are level prior to loading, so maybe it does have a few stories to tell.

The first 60 years of its life are lost to history, but since 2004 it has been my faithful companion. It has never jammed, even with old surplus ammo.

I know it will always shoot. A 30/06 round will punch a hole through any man or beast or vehicle I would ever encounter. Its sights won't get out of kilter. Even empty it would make a formidable bludgeon.

I've never taken it hunting, carried it in my rig for defense, or loaded it up to protect the home. But holding, loading, and shooting it fills me with quiet glee. Sappy, I know.

Do you have a rifle or shotgun that just makes you feel like that?

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

I've got an old Remington ADL 7mm custom shop rifle with a Leupold 2x8 and an ugly green Kevlar stock. I've had for almost 20 years. My favorite rifle. No kick and very accurate. It's traveled with me to S Africa and all over the US.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All of them, or I wouldn't have them....

Winchester 1885 Trapper carbine in 45-70. It goes with me everyday.

All but I am most confident in my M-1. I know that rifle inside and out. M-1 Carbine is my backup.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

My Colt A2 AR15 with a good scope mounted up and you don't want to be
a Yote in my neighborhood.
No recoil. Fun all day to plink with.


Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

Not really just one. My CZ 550 and 527 rifles are very reliable. Also, my Daniel Defense AR15.

Notice, Bill:

There is no such thing as a "hoarder". This is a fictional condition made up by distraught wives/girlfriends to try to shame their husbands/boyfriends into parting with their favorite stuff. I still have the first western style cap gun (SAA style of course) that I received as a young kid, and pretty much everything I've accumulated since. I run out of room every now and then, but "hoarder", naw, not me...there is no such thing. Accumulators?, well, maybe.

But to the OP's question....I have a bunch, but this thing is really reliable. Shoots easily found .308 ammo, or the military version, 7.62x51. It's a British L1A1 from the sixties, and I received about 10 Brit inch pattern mags with it, along with about 1,500 rds of high quality, non-corrosive military ammunition.



I have a lot of other long guns as well, but this is a pretty substantial, reliable firearm.

For something a little lighter, and very well built, here is a 1941 Winchester 94, still has a virtually new bore, but carried some:



Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I'm not much of a centerfire long gun guy... but I have tried to acquire examples that I thought well represented each action type.

Bolt - Remington 700 .308
Lever - Marin 30-30
Autoloading - AR15 5.56 (brand who cares)
Pump - Winchester 12ga

That's all I got... but I'm quite confident and satisfied with each. Have no intention of replacing them.

It would have to be my 1909 Argentine Mauser I bought as a teenager, sprotsterized myself, and had re-bored / chambered to .35 Whelen. I have carried it many a mile in the woods, and it has accounted for a lot of game. Cut my teeth reloading with this rifle, and it has never let me down.

Larry

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For rifles, my Lee Enfield Jungle Carbine.

I have two. The first is my Grandad's 1948 Winchester Model 70 in .270 Win. I started trying to talk him out of it while I was still in high school, and he finally gave it up when I was about 40! He took many elk, deer , etc. with it and, while I haven't hunted with it much for a long time, it's the luckiest rifle I ever owned. Deer, elk, antelope, whatever. I never shot at a big game animal more than once with it, never missed with it, never needed a second shot, and never lost an animal. Doesn't get any better than that!

The other one is a GA Precision .308. It's a duplicate of the USMC's M40A1 sniper rifle, weighs about 14 pounds and will hold 1/2" 5 shot groups all day long. 'Most anything I shoot at inside 600 yds. is going down. Not much fun to carry but it surely does inspire confidence!

I have a old 1895 Winchester in 30/06 that is my favorite fun
rifle. It is one of those rifles that fits me perfect.

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You just described my M1 from the same year, 1944.
Mine is a Springfield with just a new barrel.



And I must have 1K of ball ammo in clips for it, WW made in Grease.

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Only difference Fool/Mule-ears

my Remington 788 in .223. scary accurate and has taken a lot of varmints over the last 30 years. lee

I only have two rifles and one shotgun. The shotgun is only good as a birding gun. The other is a bolt rifle, not my favorite choice either. If I'm in a position where a rifle would be good (I don't know what that would be) I'll grab my 9mm Kel-Tec Gen 2 sub 2000. I've checked its reliability and with the right ammo it doesn't hiccup. It's a short carbine, so its very mobile in tight spaces. Besides, I have a 33 round mag, just in case there are a lot of them.

My only thing is SD/HD. If I took to the woods, as much as I like levers, for survival a semi-auto like the M1 carbine would be my choice.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

1943 Sprinfield manufactured M1 Garand., 1943 Ithaca 45 acp, Sako 75 Hunter in 30-06 very accurate with my handloads and also with M72 match ammo. Frank

I had a model 70 Winchester 30:06 with a Weaver K4 scope that filled
me with confidence. It never missed. I gave all my long guns away and
quit hunting in 2000. Gave them away? That's why I'm called crazyphil.

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In Omnia Paratus

My Sig MCX in 300BLK is the most confidence building weapon to have in hand. The Sig Romeo 4 perfectly co-witnesses with the iron sights and turns itself on when picked up.



Custom tripod mount holds it benchrest steady in the field waiting for a groundhog to show it's head:



digiroc

I shot on my High School ( WPIAL Champs and 2nd (by one point) in State my Sr Year)........ and College Rifle teams.....loved shooting rifles but kind of burnt out after shooting 5 days a week for 6/7 months for 8 years.

About 15 years ago got back into it on a different level...... .22s and shooting against myself.........................................

MY "Walking in Penn's Woods Rifle" is a CZ 452 FS/mannlicher chambered in .22 magnum w/ a 1-4x20 Leupold scope.......an almost constant companion at the cabin. Good for any ''varmint" in the Laurel Highlands of Pa.......... shoots under the heavy cross hairs (1.5-2") at 100yds..... best groups have been in the .8-.9 range

Close behind is a CZ 527FS/mannlicher in .223

There are other rifles in the safe but those two get called on most.........

that said a S&W 15-22 and Ruger 10/22 International make for some fun times at the range.

My well-worn S & W 1500 (By Howa): Basic Mauser action. 300 Win Mag with a 3x9 Leupold scope. Fiberglass stock (replacement) that's camoed with Rustoleum primer.

Taken everything from ground squirrels and jack rabbits to several elk and distances up to almost 500 yards. Carried it for 4-5 years while I guided P/T for hogs in Cali.

I feel that way about my Colt LE 6940.

I'm a Mauser collector and have several I like to shoot but there's never any doubts in my mind when I show up at the range with this 1908 Swedish FSR m96. It's really dialed in to my reloads.

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

All of them. Each fills a niche, whether for hunting, defense, varmint control, or simply plinking. My latest long gun purchase is a Remington 700 CDL in 7mm Mag. intended for hunting at longer ranges. To put that in context, a long range shot for me is 300 to 500 yards. I grew up hunting whitetail in heavily wooded areas, and a Winchester 94 in .30-30 was all the gun I needed. I still have one in my safe.

My Sako Finnbear Deluxe 30-06 L61r from the 60's is the cat's meow for me. Redfield 3-9 scope, smooth as silk and accurate. 180 grain Nosler Partitions over H4831 work very well. We have a freezer full of New Mexicans elk taken with it.
Scott

My Sako Riihimaki, L46 in .222 Remington, with a 4x12 Redfield scope on it. Just hand fit quality and it places the bullet just where I intend for it to go.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I think I'd have to narrow it down to these two. While they would both definitely fit the bill to some degree when it comes to either hunting, survival, or personal defense, the reason I'd choose these two is because they are just so darned fun to shoot, easy to pack around, and as accurate as can be.

First, my truck gun. It's a Rossi Model 92 with a 16-inch barrel in .45 Colt. It's stainless steel, but I had it bead-blasted. I usually have it in the truck tucked in a scabbard. It handles hot loads with ease. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was shooting 360 grn. WFNGC +P's through it, going a little over 1200 fps. Believe me...a load like that can plow through just about anything.



My second one is my Winchester 9422M in .22 magnum with a 4x Leupold scope. This little gun is dead on at 100 yards. A real coyote killer. And when used to shoot ground squirrels out of the hay fields, it makes the aftermath look like Armageddon had broken loose.

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Pack light and cinch tight.

Styer Scout in 308 and Remington 660 in 350 Remington magnum set up in scout configuration.

Oh man, so many amazing rifles in this thread.
Kinda embarassed to say my go-to long arm is a measly Mossberg 500 12 GA.

It's cheap, old, well-used and refinished by myself but everytime I use it I feel like I can't miss. A good feeling indeed and one I do not get with any handgun.

Old Norinco Mak90 with folder. It won't quit.

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Isaiah 41:10

Benelli M2 12 gauge. Like most everyone here, I'm lucky to have numerous guns. I shoot Skeet and Sporting Clays every weekend and am fortunate to have several high end target shotguns. I seem to shoot the well worn M2 as good or better than guns costing four times as much. I guess it's confidence.

Defensive rifle, M1A. Hunting rifle, ugly old rattle can camo painted Remington Mohawk .243.

Well this post was over before it started. You have either held an M1 or you haven't. Besides a long barreled 12 gauge pump shotgun, I'm hard pressed to top that one.

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This≠DodgeCity&You≠BillHickok

Don't be embarrassed by your gun. I have a 28" 835 that has done its fair share of putting meat on the table and I feel as though there is a certain looking doom when I take it out for anything serious. Silly notions of shorter is better have kept it inside for more than a decade.

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This≠DodgeCity&You≠BillHickok

SA M1A with M6 attached. Though it's just imagination, that bayonet on the end of the battle rifle makes for added confidence.
Great sights for target acquisition and a bunch of twenty round mags and we're all set.
I do keep in mind that I never had to do it for real. My hats off, with my hand on my heart for those that did.

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"from my cold dead hands" C.H.

I put this one together in my garage, starting with a stripped Winchester receiver from the CMP. It all came together perfectly and the barrel timed well enough to only need two clicks off center to line my shots up with the bullseye. It is so much fun to shoot and makes me look like a good shot.

I love my Danish returned M1 but for me it would have to be my old red pad, tang safety Ruger feather weight 250-3000 with a Leupold 3-9 on top. If I had started putting notches on it every time I killed a deer with it in the past 30 years I wouldn't have much of a stock on it. It's pretty much retired now due to the rising prices. However both my daughters have one each that they are using and I hope they will have the same type of memories that I have with mine. And I do agree with the 12 gauge. My old Ithaca model 37 featherweight is a dream to shoot ( with a recoil pad) all day dove or rabbit hunting. And have never had any cycling problems with it.

Well I didn't have the heart to say anything other than those two with them being such good choices. I have a TC Encore in .300WM and it's a sure fire killer. Automatic from 300m and in. I was afraid of it when I bought the barrel so I fired it a lot before it ever saw the woods. I once killed two deer in the same herd with that gun pulling the shells from a pocket. I'd take that for the surest most confident long gun.

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This≠DodgeCity&You≠BillHickok

My Mossberg Patriot in 270 Winchester is one of the most accurate rifles that I own.

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I bought this HK91 in 1984. It has never had a malfunction of any kind even with the worst $75/500rds Paragon mixed surplus. I bought the cut up Portuguese G3 about 25 years ago "just in case." The more geezerly I get, the less agile I am with this beast. Sorry for the lousy photo. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

I'm with Rubone, if I have a gun that I don't feel is useful I sell it to buy one that is!



"I'm gonna need a bigger.....everything!"

Confidence

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

My CZ 527 Varmint .204 Ruger. It is a prairie dog dog slayer. I have an M1 too.

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SWCA #2922

Like many here, I love the M1 Garand. It works every time, is plenty accurate, and in a pinch - it will do just fine in battle. I cut my teeth on the M1 since I was a freshman in high school ROTC, and I've owned this one since 1963 - SA 1941; British proofs.

John



P.S. Get off my lawn!

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

My favorite long gun is the M-1 Carbine. I got my first M-1, an Inland, when I was 19. It was the only center fire rifle I owned for several years, and it never failed to perform. I've added several more M-1 Carbines over the years, plus many other rifles, but that first M-1 is still my favorite. That mint first M-1 only cost $275 back in the fall of 1993, when I look at what they cost now I wish I had bought a dozen of them.

Honorable mention goes to my #4Mk2 Enfield. I've got several Enfields, but I do best with Mk2.

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Wheel guns are real guns.

The long gun I am most comfortable with is a 1944 IBM M-1 Carbine. It handles superbly, I can hit with it out to 300 yards and it is 100% reliable. I have even shot a couple of 3-gun matches with it. It shoots better than I can aim.

I have many rifles that are fun or accurate... or both... but the one that instills that sense of "I can't miss" would be my M1A-NM...and it gives the sense to my friends as well.. I can hit things 300 to 600 yards away with the peep sights that my friends find a challenge to hit with there bolt guns with scopes... and they can usually hit the 300 yard steel plate at our range after 2 sighters... usually surprising themselves... : )

My personally owned, department approved Remington 870. I outfitted it for use on the street. Scattergun Technologies ghost ring sights, sidesaddle, jumbo head safety, Wilson two shot mag extension, surefire forearm light and two point sling. This gun has given me comfort and gone in harms way with me more times than I can count over the past two decades. Never fired a shot in anger, but saw many give up when introduced to a view of the muzzle. While I'm pretty competent with my sidearm, this shotgun gives me confidence when I break it out.

Century Arms International brought tons and tons of foreign military rifles in the 1990's. My favorites were the so-called SLR/ L1A1 / FAL, the rifle the rest of the non-Com Block countries used while the Communist Workers Paradises used the AK types and the U.S. and Ethiopia used the M-14.

Some of these FAL's were called "metric" and some were called "inch" and India built smorgasboards of rifles that split the difference.

Inch L1A1's were manufactured and used by the Commonwealth countries, England, Canada and Australia. Metric SLR's were used by most of Europe, Africa, Central and South America, Israel.

The Commonwealth guns were manufactured as semiautomatics. C.A.I. sold many to individual police officers on the department's letterhead with a superior's signature.

The rest were disassembled into parts kits and several U.S. companies arose to produce semiauto receivers.

I have one of Century's original import rifles. It had been arsenal overhauled before Century got it and parts are a little mixed. The upper receiver was made by BSA and the lower by Enfield.

It's twin was built with a parts kit from CAI from a rifle still sporting the arsenal work done tag. The upper was made by Entreprize Arms in California and the lower by Enfield.

My favorite rifle is the ex-Brit L1A1 built on a very early Entreprize upper by my late friend and master gunsmith Guy Malmborg, retired Marine Corps armorer and just a fine man, taken by cancer way too soon.

Easily scoped, absolutely rugged, reliable and spits out 7.62 caliber bullets 20 and 30 at a time.

I'm really sorry I don't have a photo to post.

Closest thing I can think of as being a "favorite", first choice GP rifle:


Dang old mixmaster with early M16 upper and Colt scope.

Complete with inner tube rain guard:


Has turned out to be for sure my favorite deer rifle. (I would never have guess that turn out to be the case 20 years ago....!)


(All old photos, sorry, didn't hardly take any hunting pics in the past couple of years.)

Nothing wrong with Garands, either, have had a 1944 SA since the 1980s, and a fair number of others M1s and M14 clones as well.

Hope to make SCAR17 #2 a favorite, eventually, but it's just too new.

As far as rifles, I'm on the M1 bandwagon also. Mine's a post Korean War CMP service grade HRA with its' original 1955 barrel and a mix of other parts. I think it was a return from Greece. Throat and muzzle wear are minimal so she shoots well. Even though this one clearly never could have been at D-Day, it's still a M1 and a favorite.

For a using rifle it's my Marlin 995 22LR. It's just a sweet little carbine and if I do my part I hit what i aim at.

For shotguns it's my 391. I bought it used. But it is the gun that is the most instinctive when I birdhunt- bird gets up, 391 comes to my shoulder, bird goes down. I really have no reason for the other shotguns in the safe